ESPN and Major League Baseball have a, shall we say, complicated relationship, one that remains on track to end following the season.
Many fans and viewers have accused ESPN of ‘quiet quitting’ on baseball over the past decade. ESPN essentially ended “Baseball Tonight” in 2017, and you’ll rarely see shows like “First Take” or “Get Up” discuss the sport’s ongoings unless there’s a major incident or the conversation turns to Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani.
For now, though, ESPN still holds the “Sunday Night Baseball” rights, and they’re taking full advantage. The trio of Karl Ravech, David Cone, and Eduardo Pérez traveled to San Francisco for an exciting showdown between the NL East-leading Mets and a Giants team still within range of a Wild Card spot.
Viewers didn’t exactly come away impressed, with several social media users blasting Ravech’s play-by-play of the Mets’ 5-3 win. Fans specifically took issue with Ravech’s call of Mets third baseman Ronny Mauricio’s seventh-inning, game-tying home run, a splash hit into McCovey Cove.
“A genuinely horrible home run call on a game-tying splash hit,” the Ringer’s Sean Fennessey wrote on X/Twitter.
A genuinely horrible home run call on a game-tying splash hit. pic.twitter.com/nXqDtgsD9v
— Sean Fennessey (@SeanFennessey) July 28, 2025
Others criticized Ravech’s call on a Juan Soto homer later in the inning.
“[The] two Karl Ravech HR calls tonight on game-tying and go-ahead home runs were probably the worst calls I’ve heard all year,” Jomboy Media’s Jolly Olive commented.
ESPN doesn’t take Major League Baseball seriously anymore, and it shows
Ravech has been a staple of ESPN’s MLB coverage for decades, and he’s held the “Sunday Night Baseball” job since 2022. None of this is an indictment on him, nor is it a black mark against Cone (a former Cy Young winner and longtime broadcaster) or Pérez (who has spent nearly 20 years as a commentator, analyst, and coach).
With that said, it’s nonetheless the latest frustrating chapter in the ESPN-MLB relationship. Primetime games don’t feel like primetime games, even when the teams involved have superstars and are both competing for playoff berths. A Juan Soto go-ahead home run should invoke significant reactions, whether it’s in the seventh or ninth inning. A splash hit into McCovey Cove needs to mean something.
In fairness, games not feeling important isn’t restricted to ESPN’s MLB coverage. Basketball fans and media members criticized ESPN and ABC throughout the NBA playoffs for a similar lack of excitement.
ESPN doesn’t have much time to turn things around, at least with baseball, and viewers can only hope that they can end the relationship on a strong note. If not, there’ll be added pressure on NBC, Amazon, or whoever emerges victorious in the next media rights deal.